Eleanor & Park Chapter 30 Summary

Park

Cal keeps trying to get Park to come out with him to see Kim; this time, he asks Park to a basketball game.
Cal tells Park that he and Kim are going out.
Park doesn't even consider going, because he doesn't want to go anywhere without Eleanor, and she "didn't seem like the basketball-game type" (30.11).

DeNice invites Eleanor to "Sprite Nite" with them. Eleanor says she's not allowed to go out. They try to persuade her, because they know she goes to Park's house (she had to tell someone, after all), but she can't imagine going out with anyone: "Thinking about going out with Park, in public, was kind of like thinking about taking your helmet off in space" (30.21).

Park's mom says that they need to start doing homework if Park and Eleanor are going to spend all their time together after school.
They do their homework in the kitchen, which is tough for Park to handle, since they're practically alone.
"So we should be doing alone things" (30.40), he says.
Park notices his name written on Eleanor's book cover, but as he's looking, he notices another profane message written there, too.
Eleanor clearly didn't know it was there, and she's humiliated. Park says he thought it had stopped, and wants to know why she didn't tell him. "Why would I tell you?" she asks. "It's gross and embarrassing" (30.61).
Park wants to help, and tries to figure out who would have written it, but Eleanor doesn't want to take the messages seriously. Eleanor reveals that she thinks it's Tina, because "Tina's a monster," but Park can't quite wrap his head around the idea. He knows Tina can be a bully, but Tina's also defended Park from Steve. "I've known Tina since we were kids," Park says. "We used to be friends" (30.83).
Park tells Eleanor that he and Tina used to "go together" in sixth grade. Eleanor is shocked. Park honestly doesn't think Tina would do something this awful to Eleanor. He asks Eleanor if she wrote the messages herself.
Eleanor gapes at him, then packs her things. Needless to say, she's pretty upset.
Eleanor leaves just as Park's mom comes in.

That night in bed, Park tries to figure out why he defended Tina. He remembers that when Tina asked him to go with her, he said yes, because "going with Tina was such powerful social currency. Park was still spending it" (30.112).
Park thinks there are only two reasons no one calls him racist nicknames, or bullies him: his dad (a huge, strong veteran) and because he went out with Tina.
Park also thinks Tina still might like him a little bit.
This is all kind of difficult for Park to understand: "He thought he was over caring what people thought about him. He'd thought that loving Eleanor proved that. But he kept finding new pockets of shallow inside himself. He kept finding new ways to betray her" (30.123).